This was a successful speech. Shen Yi perfectly interpreted how to conduct a revolution against oppression.
Such revolutions usually require two foundations: one is the inevitable rebellious sentiment in a dark society, and the other is someone qualified to lead the call.
The former is inherent, while the latter needs achievements to shine.
The Silver Wolf and the Dwarf Chieftain laid the groundwork for Shen Yi's glory. His performance in the church and the approach of assuming a false father's identity established his prestige. Passionate and provocative speeches were essential materials to ignite the passion.
Next, Anna watched in disbelief as the villagers of Transylvania, who had been inactive for centuries, started preparing to resist enslavement.
They began constructing fences with huge logs to ward off werewolves and dwarf hordes. Blacksmith shops worked tirelessly, forging weapons like crossbows, bows, swords, axes, armor, and javelins...
People respected Shen Yi immensely, and he reciprocated with surprises – his background in precision mechanics and as a senior engineer endowed him with remarkable talent in forging primitive tools. He taught the people more efficient forging methods, helped them create new weapons, and quickly formed a guard troop.
Surprisingly, the captain of the guard was the former tavern helper, Gasken.
This Viking descendant was incredibly skilled.
Shen Yi had once used a psychic probing technique and found that Gasken's basic attributes were higher than his own doubled attributes, and he was proficient in two special combat skills.
Time passed day by day.
Surprisingly, Count Dracula did not immediately attack with his forces.
It seemed the deaths of the Silver Wolf and the Dwarf Chieftain were of little concern to him.
On the eighth day, the Blood Sigil finally sent a prompt:
"Monster Hunter Van Helsing will enter the town of Transylvania in one hour."
"Choose whether you need Van Helsing's help. If you choose to need Van Helsing's help, you will passively accept an optional mission, with a failure penalty of losing half of the Blood Sigil points and half of the item rewards."
Shen Yi was slightly stunned. According to the Sigil, even on the mission to kill Count Dracula, the city would arrange special characters to assist him.
Of course, the price of accepting help was that the optional mission became a main mission, and failure now carried punitive measures.
To accept or not?
Shen Yi hardly hesitated before choosing to accept.
From the moment he planned, he had no intention of letting Count Dracula go. Now, the Blood Sigil simply handed him another reliable victory chip, making his chances even better.
After choosing to accept Van Helsing's help, the Blood Sigil sent more information:
"Optional Mission One: Kill the vampire Count Dracula, mission upgraded to a mandatory mission. Failure penalty: lose half of the rewards. The execution time is counted in the main mission time, with 49 hours remaining until the mission ends."
"Character Information One: Monster Hunter Van Helsing. Occupation: Gunman. Skills: 1. Waveform Jumping Bullet 2. Precise Strike. Passive Effect 1: Using firearms increases power by 25%, and rate of fire by 25%. Passive Effect 2: Normal attacks have a chance to fire multiple bullets simultaneously. Off-hand Technique: 1. Side Step Slide 2. Elbow Strike. Basic Attributes: Strength 30, Agility 25, Constitution 50, Spirit 20, Will 20. Equipment: Pneumatic Chain Crossbow, Demon Hunting Gun."
"Character Information Two: Monk Karl. Occupation: Junior Mechanic. Capable of creating special items. Strength 5, Agility 7, Constitution 5, Spirit 25, Will 4."
Reading the information of these two characters, Shen Yi fell into deep thought.
Under the cloud-covered sky, two knights were entering the town of Transylvania.
The leading knight, with a wide brimmed hat covering most of his face, revealed only a chin with a hint of blue stubble, wearing a worn leather coat and carrying a large bundle on his back. Following him was a young man with his head covered in black cloth, looking around curiously.
These two were the characters from the plot mission, Van Helsing and Karl.
Standing atop the church bell tower, Shen Yi carefully observed these two.
Van Helsing was arguably the most famous monster hunter of the 19th century, assigned by the church to hunt zombies, vampires, and other chaotic entities of this world. Ironically, Van Helsing himself was a monster – he had lived for over a thousand years but maintained the appearance and physique of a thirty-year-old.
Poorly, this individual had lost his memory. He didn't even know what he was. Of his thousands of years of life, only a few decades of demon hunting remained in his mind. He was unaware that Count Dracula, before becoming a vampire, was actually one of his kills.
As if sensing something, Van Helsing, who was always wearing a cowboy hat, suddenly raised his head. The sharp gaze under the brim shot straight at Shen Yi, piercing his heart with an indescribable sadness.
Shen Yi was startled by this man's power; he could sense others' surveillance from afar. This was not good news – if the assistant sent was this powerful, how formidable would Count Dracula be?
Since Van Helsing had noticed him, Shen Yi simply left the bell tower and approached him.
"Mr. Van Helsing? I am Shen Yi, sent by the Catholic Church to meet you," Shen Yi extended his hand generously.
This identity was not fabricated but assigned by the Blood Sigil after he accepted the mission.
Van Helsing shook his hand, his grip strong and rough with calluses.
"You're weaker than I expected," he said flatly.
"Dealing with devils sometimes requires more than brute force," Shen Yi smiled.
He could see Van Helsing's mouth twitching: "If not brute force, then what?"
Van Helsing had noticed that Shen Yi had mobilized the entire town for defense, but to him, these were insignificant.
Shen Yi glanced at the young monk behind him and slowly said, "Force is important, but not the only thing. I believe Mr. Karl would agree with me."
The young monk grinned: "Hey, Van, he's right. I don't have brute force, but you can't deny you need me."
The cowboy-like Van Helsing grunted and changed the subject: "Where are we staying?"
Before Shen Yi could answer, Anna approached: "You'll stay at my place. I'm Anna Villares." Then, looking at Shen Yi, she asked, "Are they the friends you mentioned?"
"Sort of, although we've just met," Shen Yi shrugged.
Hearing the name Anna Villares, Van Helsing finally showed emotion.
Protecting the last member of the Villares family was also one of his missions.
After a brief chat, everyone got acquainted.
"Let's rest first, then discuss how to deal with the vampire," Anna suggested.
Shen Yi suddenly said, "Maybe we should discuss it now."
"Why?" asked Anna.
"Because they're already here," Shen Yi answered leisurely.
Suddenly, piercing screams filled the sky, and three vampire brides with sharp fangs and wings appeared over the town of Transylvania.
(Note: In the original Van Helsing plot, the vampire count is an immortal being, only fearing werewolves. However, this concept is not suitable for a web novel, especially in a network novel. Moreover, Western vampire novels have varied fears, lacking uniformity. Thus, in this infinite flow novel, all BOSSes or non-BOSS entities use an attack damage model. In other words, whether it's the vampire brides, Count Dracula, vampires from Van Helsing, other movies' vampires, werewolves, or even Satan, all can be harmed and killed by sufficient attacks. Of course, exceptions exist if attacks don't break defense or damage is outpaced by healing. Additionally, those fear effects still exist, but they don't cause instant death, instead enhancing the lethality of attacks.)